SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS OF LITCHI IN MUZAFFARPUR DISTRICT OF BIHAR
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Date
2016
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PROFESSOR JAYASHANKAR TELANGANA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
Abstract
Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn), an important sub-tropical evergreen fruit crop
belonging to family Sapindaceae, is believed to have originated in China, where it has
been grown in Southern Guangdong state for thousands of years. It is highly specific to
climatic requirements and probably due to this reason its cultivation is restricted to few
countries in the world. In India, litchi was introduced in the 18th century through Burma,
and from there, it spread to many countries. India and China account for 91 percent of
the world litchi production.In India, during 2014, 585300 MT of litchi was produced
annually from 84200 ha(http://www.agricoop.nic.in, 2014). Bihar produces nearly 55
per cent of total litchi of the country with 38.67 per cent of the area under cultivation. It
is cultivated in an area of about 32 thousand hectares with a total production of 198
thousand metric tonnes and productivity of 6.2 metric tonnes/ hectare
(http://www.agricoop.nic.in, 2014).According to the Directorate of Horticulture
(http://www.orihort.in, 2014) database, litchi is produced in 27 districts in Bihar.
Muzaffarpur is the largest litchi producing district with a production of 56,006 MT
followed by Vaishali at 26, 498 MT and Sitamarhi at 15,518 MT. West Champaran,
East Champaran and Katihar are other three districts having production of more than 10,
000 MT. Litchi is a non-climacteric fruit that possesses poor shelf life and results in
very high post-harvest losses.
The study was conducted in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar with the following
specific objectives:
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1. To identify the marketing channels involved in litchi supply chain.
2. To enumerate the role and functions performed by various market
intermediaries in litchi supply chain.
3. To estimate the price spread and marketing efficiency of litchi supply
chain.
4. To suggest suitable policy measures for improving marketing efficiency
in litchi supply chain in study area.
About 60 litchi growers and 80 market intermediaries were selected from four blocks
viz. Kanti, Mushahri, Motipur and Sarai. The result of the study showed the compound
growth rates for area, production and productivity of Muzaffarpur district during the period
of 2005-06 to 2014-15 were 0.3 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively. Among
the all three variables, only the area has shown significant growth rate.Four channels of
marketing were identified which are
Channel I: Producer- Pre-harvest contractor - Commission agent cum Wholesaler – Retailer
– Consumer.
Channel II: Producer- Village Trader- Wholesaler (local) – Commission agent (distant) –
Wholesaler (distant) – Retailer – Consumer.
Channel III:Producer- Retailer – Consumer.
Channel IV: Producer – Consumer.
The producer’s share in consumer rupee in Channel IVisthe highest since it is the
shortest channel (70.23 per cent). Whereas the producer’s share in consumer rupee in
Channel I, Channel II and Channel III are 36.21 per cent, 12.89 per cent and 43.42 per cent
respectively. The price spread in Channel IV is the lowest because it is the shortest channel
(Rs. 593.38). Whereas the price spread in Channel I, Channel II and Channel III are Rs.
2466.27, 9458.28 and 1824.08 respectively. The marketing efficiency for Channel I, II, III
and IV were 0.74, 0.21, 1.19 and 9.60 respectively. It is observed from this efficiency index
that Channel IV was the most efficient one. This is because of the fact that Channel IV does
not involve any intermediary. The R.B.Q values with regard to the constraints in marketing
placed perishability of the fruit as the most important with top overall rank followed by lack
of cold storage, labour shortage, lack of market information,lack of infrastructure,high
transportation cost for distant markets, lack of credit facility, unorganized production, price
fluctuations. The study suggested an overall improvement in marketing efficiency, market
information, quality of fruits, provision of cold storage etc.